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Flightcraft was acquired by The Papé Group, a family- owned business specializing in capital equipment distributorships. It controls the distribution of heavy equipment manufacturers such as John Deere, Hyster, Ditchwitch, and Bobcat.
The Papé Group had been a Flightcraft customer, said Phil Botana, Flightcraft’s previous president, and bought into the business as another capital equipment distribu- tor with a reputation for strong aftermarket support. “What Papé found,” said Botana, “was that this is a similar business but with a very different client base. Manage- ment was able to build relationships with other aircraft- operator customers – relationships that have helped the parent company prosper.”
Botana said, “The partnership decided to get out of the business. It’s likely the company management wanted to be in control of who ultimately took over the dealership.” Botana credits his predecessor, Ernie Sturm, with building Flightcraft’s business into what it had become by then. He said Papé hired Sturm when it acquired the company, and he led the business through some difficult times. We have written a lot about Beech’s mid-1980s decision to change its business relationship with its dealers. Under the old scenario, Botana said, most of a dealer’s profits were generated through aircraft sales. Maintenance and other support functions were not considered profit centers, and they existed at the dealer level mostly to support the sales department.
Beech completely rewrote the business model. Botana said, “The [original] arrangement led to the underdevel- opment of the support market. Then when the [OEM] takes away the sales profits, it’s tough to revamp and turn around the business model.” Shop rates weren’t necessarily intended to generate profit but to incentivize owners to buy another airplane. When it became necessary to raise maintenance rates to generate profit, customers found it a difficult pill to swallow.
January 2024 / TWIN & TURBINE • 23